


Checkmate.

by Yucyferka



Category: The Boyz (Korea Band), multifandom
Genre: Gen, Other Fandoms Not Mentioned in Tags
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-09
Updated: 2021-02-03
Packaged: 2021-03-05 05:41:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 3,074
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25169380
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Yucyferka/pseuds/Yucyferka
Summary: The borders of Basin are closed, as the new king had to make a heartbreaking decision to stop the spreading of the infection, caused by his brother. The capital is now parted between White King's guards and banished Black King's henchmen. But is the infection really Changmin's fault?Inspirations:Alice in Wonderland (Book)Road to Kingdom (The Boyz performances)Thief Deadly Shadows (Game)Hollow Knight (Game)
Kudos: 11





	1. Sangyeon, the White Pawn

###  **_“Pawn_ **

_ Although perceived as the weakest, Pawns are the base of the army, the hands, legs and nerves that keep it going. They're skilled in fighting, but also spying and hunting. They're experienced in working in the terrain, as many of them have great surviving skills.” _

Basin was overall a nice place. I know ‘nice’ is a pretty bland word, but it’s exactly how the capital is. If I were to talk about it in terms of colours, I would most definitely use gray - the clouds hiding the sun almost everyday are gray and inhabitant’s skin are gray from the lack of vitamin D. And gray is a pretty colour bland too.

What should make the Basin special is the sole fact, that it’s the capital of our Kingdom, which automatically means it’s here, in Basin, where the Royal family lives. And even their palace is called ‘pale’ because of it’s color, once white but faded out from the dust and the rain. Even though I work for the King, the palace I help to guard creeps me out. It’s spiky towers and overall splendour differentiates from the bulky and pedestrian town around it. 

I had the chance to enter the palace twice. First, at my belting few years ago, I was overwhelmed with pageantry and the sole size of the chamber I walked in. The king, already at the beginning of his illness stood alongside his sons, both few years younger than me. It didn’t hit me at the moment that I would transition to serve one of them so early into my service. And especially in the circumstances it happened. 

At the end of king’s ruling a platoon of pawns was called into one of the poorest areas of the capital. It was close to becoming slums, which the Rooks were in charge to keep an eye on to not make it happen. We arrived to see a bunch of people sitting on the ground, their eyes looking at nothing. Pawns, which also meant me, stood in desorientation, not really knowing why we were called. There was noone who seemed like the one who called for help, so the most reasonable move was just to ask. Or at least that’s what we thought at the time.

At this incident we lost around twenty people before with the help of Knights we were able to quarantine the closest area. Something we later called ‘The Infection’ turned humans into aggressive mindless machines. Some referred to them as ‘zombies’, but I never liked that term. It just felt weird to call the viable danger with the name from folk tales. 

Society’s reaction was not good either. The closer to the epicentre of the infection, the more serious the panic rose. On the other side, people living at the other end of the town wholeheartedly downplayed the infection, trying to turn it to level of another tale, as if the royal family tried to scare them. There was no golden mean in this situation.

As everyone thought it couldn’t get worse with the unstoppable plague next to us, dying king left us with the last order to establish the infection - close the borders of the capital and banish his older son for starting the plague. The whole palace froze at this order, carried out by the younger prince, who soon became the king over his father. 

Whatever the reasoning of of the King was, we had to follow the order. The borders were closed until the plague were to quiet down. We saw the sorrow in our new king’s eyes, as he banished his brother to the end of the closed capital, an area called black fortress because of it’s previous usage. I felt great seeing how merciful my new king, Chanhee, was, using the previous king’s wording to his advantage and letting the prince stay in the capital.

Although not everyone was thinking like me. Surprising amount of soldiers, including bishops, a rook, few pawns and knights, and also Black Queen followed Changmin as a sign of protest for the banishing. Their argument was simple - there was no proof for his fault. But the order was the order, and even though I had to turn back on some of my friends I still carried it on. We lost their respect and their help, but all of us who stayed at the King’s side thought “this is what we should’ve done”. But it was a mistake, and that’s what we learned later. 


	2. Juyeon, The Black Pawn

###  **_“Black Fortress_ **

_ Used in the Great War, Black Fortress was a crucial point in Basin's defence system. Many years passed and it’s now the residence of Black Prince and his henchmen, as it’s no longer useful in royal’s actions. “ _

The Black Fortress wasn’t that bad compared to the palace. In terms of looks it was the exact opposite of the tall and magnificent royal residence. It was sturdy, and looked pretty small on the outside. The inside was cold, but filled with everything we needed to live there for a few weeks. 

The Black Fortress we were staying at became in some way a safe place for us, who were called 'Black Henchmen' since the banishment. The place was big enough to protect all of us from royal guards that were still fullfilling the king’s order…Locked up in the fortress, they were able to monitor every move right outside of it, managing to keep us in one place. 

As the time after the banishment passed, we started hearing rumours. The limited contact we had with citizens around the fortress was enough to hear them. They came around the fortifications, whispering “How could they follow such a monster?” among each other, from ear to ear. Some of them only stared at us, not daring to make any sort of move as long as we were around. At the very second we left we could hear their words. “Heartless”, “barbaric”.

I couldn’t blame them for wondering why we followed the Prince, but their blindness amazed me. As if anyone among the Black Henchmen believed that it was Changmin who caused it. Obviously not. Few years before the order the illness started devouring the previous King. He was probably not in the right mind, when he ordered to banish his older son. After all, he was only human. As I and many others think, he was simply mistaken. There was no evidence of the Prince’s fault, except for King’s word. What could it be, that he knew and we didn’t? What we did know was Changmin himself. He’d never do anything to hurt the people of his kingdom, especially since he was supposed to be the king. This conclusion was the reason I and many others followed the Prince. We just followed the innocent man. 

'I think we made a good decision, although… It parts the capital between Pale Palace and Black Fortress…' long-haired Hyunjin exclaimed again, sighing right next to me. The small room was flickering in the weak light of a few candles, as none of the four henchmen inside stayed quiet. None of us wanted to admit it, but everyone knew that our decision weakned the capital’s defence. Not only were we in the middle of the epidemic, which took a lot of soldiers either into a quarantine or into the infection itself. And now so many of us also left, following the Prince, resulting in days and weeks of sitting in the closed fortress. We all knew there was no turning back. For many, it started being scary, making them wonder if they made the right choice. 

Black Fortress is not necessarily worse than the Palace. Although the further from the centre of the capital, the less royals cared about the people living there, Unfortunately, the Black Fortress was placed right at the border, connected to the city walls. Citizens that were coming around the fortifications looked dirty and unkept. They were walking out of buildings close to collapsing, with dirty and jagged clothes. It was hard to get food or anything else delivered here.

We did manage to find help from outside. I never met the person who offered a hand for us, rumours said he met only with the Prince himself. Some of us hope that he’s going to help us much more than just giving us food to survive. I gladly consider this a possibility.

'Do you think we're going to be back at the palace at some point, Juyeon-hyung?' Han Jisung, one of the younger pawns, looked at me, with his head upside down swinging from the top of the bunk bed. 'The helper could be able to make it happen..'

'They're probably from inside the palace, so he could only pretend to help us now' I answered, hoping that's not the truth. 'And if they're really helping us, we shouldn't make him do more, right? That wouldn't be okay' I added, thinking about the mysterious person. I really was hoping they wanted to help us.

Jisung just nodded, still upside down, and sighed. We were all low on morals, our spirits weakened after the last few weeks of protesting. There's also far less Prince's henchmen, in comparison to the moment of the banishment. Some of us just left, losing hope in taking back the order or losing trust in Prince Changmin himself. Others disappeared. I wished to not think about what happened to them.

Someone who was encouraging us to stay was the Black Queen, or maybe more precisely, the Princess. Ju Haknyeon never left Prince’s side, at least I never saw him alone. Every time he showed up, he thanked us for the support we gave them, as Changmin seemed to get flustered behind him. The Queen seemed so passionate and determined, it made it easier for us to stay so long.

I would love to say that I’m going to be loyal till the end. But if we won’t start to do something about our situation it might become impossible to stay. My friends stayed at the palace. My family in the centre of the capital. I wished to be back. 


	3. Kevin, the White Rook

###  **_"Rook_ **

_ Experienced in many paths, they usually take care of bargains between the Kingdoms, and strategy. They're one of the least numerous figures, but they play a major role in the army's well-being." _

Until now we retrieved exactly twenty-one soldiers from Black Fortress. Only a few of them came back on their own, but we arrested all of them. Doesn’t matter if they wanted to go back by their own decision, or if something made them do it. Following Prince Changmin is considered a treason, by the order of the New King. After Chanhee was crowned, he made few adjustments to the previous King’s order, including the case of traitor’s followers. Even as a Rook I can't do much about it.

On the other hand, I don't really think changing the orders would help now. In the next few months we should have over half of our soldiers back. I can only imagine how low their morals are - it’s not easy to keep them up while cornered in a fortress. They get scared of the consequences of coming back, and the consequences of staying there. There’s no need to worry about them. Or at least that’s what I would love to think.

At first Black Henchmen were very loud. They tried to sneak out of the Fortress, attack lone guards, some of them even tried to provoke us under the palace gates and then ran away when rooks showed up. In the last few weeks though, they have quieted down. They went so silent to the point where most of the guards need to be reminded as to why they are still watching over the Fortress. Noone has been seen coming out of it lately. My only clue as of how they survived up to this point (if they did of course) is the only Bishop they have left - he’s probably the only one that can sneak out unseen by the guards. But would he be able to gather the food for all of them unnoticed?

The amount of uncertainties in this whole case was making me go crazy. Neither I knew why the previous King gave out such an order to banish his son, nor I knew the evidence. And after the order was fulfilled, now I have no idea what the Black Henchmen are doing. I couldn’t help but try to gather as much information as I could. About the inside and outside of both of the royal brother’s residences.

The followers of Prince Changmin weren’t my only concern at the time. What’s obvious is that the plague that caused all of this kept spreading around, causing more panic. It was hard to approach the infected cases without passing on The Infection to the Pawns; eventually we managed to find a way to close it up, but it meant to close one fifth of the town, because of how rapidly the disease spreads. It was good enough that we closed the borders before it spread to the cities around the capital.

And if I wasn’t occupied enough already, the King also worried me. My first concern is that I felt like saying my doubts out loud could actually get me in trouble. As a Rook I had numerous chances to speak to King Chanhee, and I could tell that him being my age was way too young to become the King. But I felt that it wasn’t only the age that was off about him.

“Night report, sir” a familiar voice announced, knocking me out my thoughts and almost scaring me to death. Damn those Bishops, you can never hear them getting closer.

“I’m listening, Donghyun” I answered, turning to a slightly taller boy, acting like I didn’t get startled. I saw corners of his lips rising, but he didn't comment on that.

"I'm back from the Black Fortress. There seems to be no move from Black Henchmen, although.." he paused and I squinted my eyes.

"Although?" I encouraged him to speak up.

"Although I could feel some kind of tension. They're preparing for something, but we can't see it yet.” he paused “It's still just my feeling." He finished, without confidence.

"It's important to hear out what you think, Donghyun." I nodded. So I wasn't the only one who felt something was coming. But how to prepare for that, if we don't know what it is?

"I advise the second platoon of Knights to observe the Fortress starting next week. If they're busy, send at least half of them. It might be just a feeling, but every possibility of a bunt should be shut down as quickly as possible. The knights are going to stay until the Prince is alone at the Fortress." I finally decided. “Inform me if the Henchmen make any move. I should be the first one you go to when that happens.” Blue haired boy just nodded and left as quietly as he arrived.


	4. Jacob, the Black Rook

###  **“** ** _Palace_**

_ A grand, sleek building at the very centre of the Basin. It’s pale appearance was the inspiration for the name “White army”. _ ”

Living at the Black Fortress was harder to me than I expected it to be. Unfortunately for the current situation, I got used to the palace's comforts. And as much as my moral self wanted to stay, I missed the warmth and softness of my bed in near-palace dorms. But I couldn’t leave just yet, especially knowing that I probably won’t be able to keep my position after.

At last, there was one thing that made all of it easier. I was able to meet the only supporter we had from outside. His face was covered, and he spoke quietly and fast. It seemed more like a habit, not adapting to the situation, which is why I concluded we were talking to one of the White Bishops. 

“We” might not be the best way to put it though. Prince Changmin asked me to acompany him in the meetings with the ‘helper’, but I didn’t get a chance to speak up. The mysterious man seemed interested only in Prince Changmin. 

Again, I was asked to keep company with the prince. I could let go of the thoughts of warm coffee that drifted in my mind the whole afternoon. As far as I was informed, today was supposed to be the last meeting up with the mysterious bishop, before the action started. We talked about it before, today we needed only confirmation of the plan. And the intentions of the white soldier.

“Do you think we can trust him, Jacob?” the Prince asked, walking before me on the way to the meeting room. I thought deeply.

“Either we do that, or we stay here, waiting for the end to come, your majesty” I answered, trying to be as respectful as I can. I was free to speak my thoughts, as I would never expect from the previous king. He always cared about the ettiquette. “If it’s a trap, we’ll move to it from this one, all the henchmen are ready for that” I assured the prince, before we entered the room.

The bishop was already waiting inside. He was standing up, and bowed imidiately as soon as Changmin entered the room.  _ Could be a sign of respect, or a simple mockery.  _ I thought, sitting down after the Prince. I didn’t speak up.

“Is everything ready?” the Prince looked into the bishop's eyes calmly, regardless of having to look up.

“It should be. The only thing that could cause a problem is getting to the palace. I cannot help with that in any way, so your men will have to take care of it.” the man answered, and I had to focus to hear his words clearly. “It will take me around ten minutes to show up at the palace from the moment I leave this place. After around that time you can begin.” he added, and then lowered his head respectively.

“Thank you for your help” It seemed like the Prince decided to trust the helper in the end. And if he did, then I decided to do so as well. “Let’s get ready, Jacob” Changmin stood up, I followed right after. “We shall meet again soon” he turned to the bishop for the last time, and proceeded to leave the room.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh god it took some time to write it, but here it is!! It should be easier for me to continue now, since I struggled a lot with this chapter...

**Author's Note:**

> Aye I finally started it and I'm,,, pretty satisfied with it?  
> I know I might be inaccurate with some of the member's characters, since I don't know them that well yet, but I will try my best ^^  
> Also for the sake of this fic Changmin is older than Chanhee... Yes I know it's not right but I noticed that too late into the story making and just,,, It'll stay this way >:3


End file.
